Reinsurance company Transatlantic ( TRH) says it has begun private discussions with an additional party regarding potential strategic alternatives, on top of its previously-announced private discussions with Validus ( VR), National Indemnity and an additional undisclosed party.

Transatlantic shares were up 1.4% to $50.80.

Netflix ( NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings made news on Monday by backpedaling on plans to separate the company's physical DVD and streaming content services less than a month after announcing the change.

Shares were down 0.8% to $110.70.

The big piece of scheduled corporate news on Tuesday is the quarterly report of Alcoa ( AA), always the first Dow component to open its books. The stock is down more than 40% so far in 2011, and Wall Street isn't expecting much given how far aluminum prices have fallen.

The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for a profit of 22 cents a share for the September-ended quarter on revenue of $6.24 billion.

Shares were down 0.5% to $10.04.

Oil major Chevron ( CVX) is expected to issue its interim third-quarter report later Tuesday.

Shares were down 0.5% to $97.73.

American Airlines ( AMR) said adjustments to its late fall and winter schedule will result in a 3% decline to its mainline capacity in the fourth quarter.

Shares were unchanged at $2.53.

Electronic products company Sony ( SNE) told Reuters it wasn't planning any major announcement about restructuring its television business amid growing expectations the company would be unveiling big changes to the unit as it heads for its eighth year of losses.

Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato said Sony was becoming cautious about sales in the crucial year-end shopping season in November and December.

Mistras Group ( MG), which does safety inspections for the energy industry, said its fiscal first-quarter net income almost doubled to 11 cents a share from 6 cents a year earlier, beating analysts' expectations for a 10-cent profit. Revenue rose to $91.4 million, topping estimates for $81.1 million. The company forecast its sales and earnings, excluding certain items, to grow at a double-digit rate in fiscal 2012.

Specialty retailer Sally Beauty ( SBH) said it has started a secondary common stock offering of 15 million shares.